Hit-and-run laws and what to do in Montana

In Montana, driving off after a crash breaks the state's duty-to-stop laws and can be a felony. Here's what the statutes require and how to get paid when the other driver disappears.

ThatCarHitMe.com Editorial
May 22, 2026
6 min read

Someone hit your car and drove off. Maybe you were sitting in it when it happened, maybe you walked back to a crushed bumper in a Billings parking lot. Either way, Montana treats leaving as a crime, and the state gives you a handful of specific rights and deadlines that are easy to miss in the first rattled hours. Here is what the rules actually say, and what to do next.

What counts as a hit-and-run in Montana

Montana's statutes don't use the phrase "hit-and-run." The duty they enforce is the duty to stop. Under Mont. Code Ann. 61-7-103, a driver who knows or reasonably should know they were in a crash involving another person, or a dead body, has to stop at the scene (or as close as possible without blocking traffic more than necessary) and stay there until they have done what 61-7-105 requires.1 Leaving before that is the offense.

Section 61-7-105 spells out the "what": give your name, address, and vehicle registration number to the other people involved, show your driver's license if asked, and render reasonable assistance to anyone hurt, which can include arranging a ride to a doctor or hospital. You have to stay until an on-duty officer with authority to investigate the crash tells you that you can leave. The only built-in reasons to go are to get emergency medical care or to notify authorities.2

A parking-lot ding counts too. Hit an unattended car and 61-7-106 requires you to stop and either track down the owner or leave a written note with your name, address, and what happened, somewhere the owner will find it.3 Drive off without doing that and you've broken the same chapter of law.

When you also have to call it in

Separate from the duty to stop, 61-7-108 makes you report the crash by the quickest means of communication when anyone is injured or killed, when you strike a dead body, or when the property damage looks like $1,000 or more. In a city or town that report goes to the local police; out on county roads, to the sheriff's office or the nearest Highway Patrol office.4 The $1,000 line is low, so most crashes worth arguing about clear it.

The penalties for leaving

This is where Montana gets specific, and where the punishment climbs with the harm done. It all lives in Mont. Code Ann. 61-7-118.5

If nobody was hurt, leaving is a misdemeanor. A first conviction carries a fine of $200 to $300 or up to 20 days in jail. A second within a year runs $300 to $400 or up to 30 days. A third inside that same year reaches $400 to $500 or up to six months.5

If the crash injured someone and the driver fled, the penalty jumps to 30 days to a full year of jail, a fine of $100 to $5,000, or both.5

If it caused serious bodily injury or a death, it becomes a felony: one to ten years in state prison, a fine up to $50,000, or both.5 "Serious bodily injury" is defined, not left to guesswork. Mont. Code Ann. 45-2-101 ties it to an injury that creates a substantial risk of death, causes serious permanent disfigurement, or causes protracted loss or impairment of a body part or organ. The same section defines a felony as any offense punishable by more than a year in state prison, which this one is.6

A conviction costs the license, too. When a hit-and-run linked to death or injury becomes a felony, Mont. Code Ann. 61-5-205 makes the state revoke the driver's license for two years, twice the one-year revocation used for most other serious driving offenses.7

If you're the one who got hit

Do the careful, unglamorous things first. If you safely can, write down the other car's plate, make, model, and color, the direction it fled, and anything you noticed about the driver. Photograph your vehicle, the scene, and any debris or skid marks before they're cleared. Look for witnesses and get their names and numbers, and check nearby homes or businesses for a camera that may have caught it. A partial plate plus a doorbell recording is often what turns an unidentified driver into a named defendant.

Call the police and make sure a report actually gets written. You'll want that official crash report later for both the insurance claim and any lawsuit; you can request yours through the process on our Montana crash reports page. Tell your own insurer promptly as well, because the coverage that pays you when the other driver disappears comes with its own notice rules.

Getting paid when the driver is never found

Here's the part that catches people off guard. Montana is an at-fault state with no personal injury protection and no required medical-payments coverage. The law (Mont. Code Ann. 61-6-103) makes every driver carry only liability insurance, with minimums of $25,000 per person and $50,000 per crash for injuries and $20,000 for property damage.8 Normally you collect from the at-fault driver's liability policy. In a hit-and-run, there's no known at-fault driver to bill.

That's the job of uninsured motorist coverage. Mont. Code Ann. 33-23-201 requires insurers to offer UM coverage matching your liability limits on every auto policy, and Montana policies generally treat a hit-and-run driver who can't be identified as uninsured, so your own UM coverage steps in for your injuries. You only lack it if you rejected it in writing, and a written rejection carries forward on renewals until you ask, again in writing, to add it back.9 If you're unsure, pull your declarations page, because that one line decides whether your injury claim has a source of payment.

For the car itself, collision coverage (if you carry it) pays for repairs, and Montana lets you pursue the resale value a wreck strips out of the vehicle even after a clean repair. We cover that on our Montana diminished value page.

Deadlines that quietly control everything

Even if the driver is caught next month, your civil claim runs on a clock. You have three years from the date of the crash to sue for personal injury (Mont. Code Ann. 27-2-204) and two years for damage to your vehicle and other property (Mont. Code Ann. 27-2-207).1011 Miss those and the claim is generally gone, no matter how strong it was.

Montana also uses modified comparative negligence. Under Mont. Code Ann. 27-1-702 you can recover only if you were 50% or less at fault, and your award drops by your share of the blame; at 51% or more, you recover nothing.12 In a clean hit-and-run, where the other driver caused the crash and ran, that rarely hurts you, but an insurer may still try to assign you part of the fault to shrink what it pays.

When to bring in a lawyer

A simple property claim you can often handle on your own. Once there are injuries, a UM claim against your own insurer, or a real fight over fault, the money and the paperwork both climb. A Montana attorney can push the police to run down the fleeing driver, press the UM claim, and keep you inside the filing deadlines. You can start with our legal directory.

This is general information about Montana law, not legal advice for your particular situation.

Sources

  1. Mont. Code Ann. 61-7-103 (accidents involving another person or deceased person). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0610/chapter_0070/part_0010/section_0030/0610-0070-0010-0030.html

  2. Mont. Code Ann. 61-7-105 (duty to give information and render aid). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0610/chapter_0070/part_0010/section_0050/0610-0070-0010-0050.html

  3. Mont. Code Ann. 61-7-106 (duty upon striking unattended vehicle). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0610/chapter_0070/part_0010/section_0060/0610-0070-0010-0060.html

  4. Mont. Code Ann. 61-7-108 (immediate notice of accidents). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0610/chapter_0070/part_0010/section_0080/0610-0070-0010-0080.html

  5. Mont. Code Ann. 61-7-118 (penalty for violation). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0610/chapter_0070/part_0010/section_0180/0610-0070-0010-0180.html

  6. Mont. Code Ann. 45-2-101 (general definitions: felony; serious bodily injury). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0450/chapter_0020/part_0010/section_0010/0450-0020-0010-0010.html

  7. Mont. Code Ann. 61-5-205 (mandatory revocation of license). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0610/chapter_0050/part_0020/section_0050/0610-0050-0020-0050.html

  8. Mont. Code Ann. 61-6-103 (mandatory liability insurance and minimum limits). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0610/chapter_0060/part_0010/section_0030/0610-0060-0010-0030.html

  9. Mont. Code Ann. 33-23-201 (uninsured motorist coverage; rejection by insured). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0330/chapter_0230/part_0020/section_0010/0330-0230-0020-0010.html

  10. Mont. Code Ann. 27-2-204 (three-year limitation, personal injury). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0020/part_0020/section_0040/0270-0020-0020-0040.html

  11. Mont. Code Ann. 27-2-207 (two-year limitation, injury to property). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0020/part_0020/section_0070/0270-0020-0020-0070.html

  12. Mont. Code Ann. 27-1-702 (modified comparative negligence). https://mca.legmt.gov/bills/mca/title_0270/chapter_0010/part_0070/section_0020/0270-0010-0070-0020.html

About This Guide

Written by: ThatCarHitMe.com Editorial

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